New Week New Family

One of the most important aspects of my journey here in Thailand was doing a village homestay. Prior to the homestay, I've never experienced one so I was a little nervous, but definitely ready for the experience. I remember telling myself not to have any expectations and to go with the flow, which I like to think I'm really good at. I remember on my two hour ride here, I was thinking about life and how grateful I am to be following my dreams and doing something others may not have the opportunity to do. Little did I know, this five day experience was one of the best times of my life and I actually want to go back to the village and stay for a weekend with my host family.

We arrived to the village and were assigned our families which was extremely nerve-racking. I remember hearing my name being called to be assigned to my family and I felt so in shock that I was thinking there's no turning back sister, so here goes nothing! I was in the car with my host mom and brother on my way to my new home for the next few days and the car ride was so silent I'm sure you could hear me breathing. Driving down the narrow road in this village made me feel as if I didn't really know where I'd end up and that was the moment I knew it's okay to not know everything.

My host family only spoke Thai and being that I only knew so little, I would speak and act things out in order for them to understand me. Not going to lie, I felt like an actress who deserved an award because every moment I had to act something out felt as if I was putting on a performance. Believe it or not, I loved doing that because to me it proved that even though we had a language barrier, we still found ways to talk to each other and learn. While staying with them, I also used Google translate to speak to them which I was extremely thankful for because I felt lost in the sauce trying to have a conversation with them without knowing any Thai. I learned some new words and phrases during my time there, which were extremely helpful.

Thai's are people who eat spicy food all of the time. It's to the point where your food will automatically be spicy and you realize it once you take the first bite. For someone like myself who's a picky eater, this became my biggest challenge because I truly despise spicy food. My taste buds are not about that life and I kid you not there were many times I took a bite and the spiciness smacked my throat and I was struggling to calm down the fire in my mouth. My host brother found my reaction to the spicy food hilarious because he has superb taste buds that make him believe there isn't a sauce that's too spicy.

While in the village, we engaged in a few activities which involved dancing, basket weaving, and making dessert. Out of these three activities, I have to say I truly think I deserve a spot as a back up dancer for any Thai musician. Catch me as the newest addition in your band I'm the perfect addition! I love to dance so this was the part where I really had the time of my life. I learned a total of three dances and little did I know they'd dress us up in costumes to perform for a monk. Yes, you read that correctly, I performed for a monk. I've never felt so in tune with a culture other than my own through dancing! They had smiles on their faces while shoving their phones in my face to catch my every move, hopefully I have a nice side profile.

The hardest part about this homestay was having to say goodbye to a family that welcomed me, a stranger, with open arms into their home. I learned that you can really make an impact on someone's life in such a short amount of time. Watching my host brother cry was the hardest part because I had no idea he was getting attached to me. It's crazy to know that people can barely know you, but once they do, decide that they love you and want you around. People will show you how much you mean to them in the smallest ways and that's something you can't take for granted.